A fractal is a geometric object endowed with internal homothecy: an object that repeats its form on different scales, so that by enlarging any part of it, one obtains a figure resembling the original. Fractal (non-Euclidean) geometry studies these structures, which recur for example in the engineering of grids, in the Brownian motion that describes the disorder of movements of particles, all the way to the arrangement of the planets in the galaxy.

These scientific references also lead, by analogy, to the recent project by Mac Stopa, completed the last summer in Warsaw, providing a path of approach from the subway to the lobby of the complex known as the Warsaw HUB, to obtain what Stopa defines as an “organic flow of design solutions and a visual effect of liquid fluidity with a myriad of artistic interventions.” Wavering between the dimension of a permanent art installation and an architectural interior, Stopa constructs a pathway. It leads us from the subway along a tunnel clad in a symphony of hexagonal mirrors in polished stainless steel, covering an entire wall and joining the design of the ceiling featuring white Y-shaped three-dimensional parts in GRG (glass reinforced gypsum).

The latter stand out against the black background to create a modular pattern that repeats along the corridor for access to the halls, and is multiplied in the lobby of the office tower. Organic figures and enveloping curves in shades of blue indicate the entrance to the retail zone, a ‘liquid space’ inspired by the ‘form of water.’ The ceiling with its curved bands is echoed by the island sofas set around mirror-finish columns. The texture of the covers of the upholstered furnishings is obtained thanks to 3D graphics, making the sofas protagonists of the overall design, like ‘organic islands’ that welcome trees and vegetation emerging from a pale floor, a subtle weave in relation to the design of the ceiling.

More sofas, compact and again shaped like organic elements, though now in various colors, offer seating in the hall of the office tower, where the Y-shaped element on the ceiling that accompanies visitors in the pathway of access from the subway is multiplied, generating a new, suspended pattern of reference. Most of the surfaces of walls and ceilings are involved in the application of custom parts in GRG, which thanks to its content of natural quartzite and gypsum and the possibilities of recycling in a perspective of circular economics acts as a versatile material, one of the main ingredients of the sustainable design. Stopa also emphasizes that “this is an important social aspect of the project: the effort to create an interior design under the guise of functional art, offered for everyday use to those who work in the offices of the Warsaw HUB, and all the visitors.”